[x] . 1

Ada-Beth was well-known around the village of Lokirk in which she lived. Her house was a small, rundown brick cottage on the outskirts of the town, into which no-one was ever invited. In fact, the villagers rarely glimpsed through the windows, for they were always obscured with thick black-out curtains. It was rumoured that she had a daughter living there too, though she had never been seen; and those rumours may, after all, have been only rumours and nothing more, as Ada-Beth was the constant victim of gossip. They said she was a witch. They said she was a lunatic and they said she was an alcoholic. The children were told sternly by their mothers not to go near "that woman" and her house -- a rule which they heartily disobeyed, flinging stones and pebbles at the dark windows, calling and shrieking and cackling as they scurried away, before she could peek round the door to utter a single rebuke.

A soft wind blew lightly across the paved stone path outside Ada-Beth's cottage, and rain was beginning to fall. Adelio wandered aimlessly across. He was a well-built lad of fifteen, with a mop of tangled brown hair and rosy cheeks. At this moment, he was carrying a battered black satchel which was slung nonchalantly over his shoulder, and was clad from head to foot in dull, regulation school uniform.

x [. To Be Continued .] x